Tuesday 21 December 2021

"No rules were broken"

Osprey's Undaunted: Normandy
I can give a categorical assurance that no wargame rules were broken during the last twelve months because very few games were attempted. I didn't fancy wargaming in a mask at my local club and I only managed two games at home (apart from computer games).

Although I could have played more games at home, my heart wasn't in it. The ennui that many wargamers reported quite early during the Lockdowns finally got to me.

The games I did play at home were of the Osprey board wargame, Undaunted: Normandy, with my good friend Ian.  The game is simple but subtle. The score was one all.

My 'meta-wargaming' was also modest:

1. I accumulated quite a lot of military books, particularly from Osprey and Helion, but didn't get much time to read them. I try to buy only slim books these days. I don't have time to read or room to store any more fat books.

2. I finished collecting, cleaned/constructed and based the 28mm Russian Civil War figures for The Men Who Would Be Kings, and clarified the minimal adaptions I would be using for extending the rules into the 20th Century.

3. I developed an interest in To the Strongest! and have started to reorganise my 15mm Ancient and Medieval armies. I’ve even bought some extra (painted) figures to fill gaps, but my main activity has been arranging figures into units on sabot bases.

4. Inspired by the simplicity but effectiveness of Undaunted: Normandy I made another attempt at writing my own WW2 fastplay rules but then lost interest in them again.

Overall this has been another depressing year. At this point I should probably say something optimistic but I can't think of anything.

4 comments:

  1. I say, “cheer up!” Meta-Wargaming is better than no Wargaming. Had not seen this term before. Does thinking about Wargaming fall into this ‘meta’ genre?

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  2. Jonathan, by 'meta' I meant that which goes behind or beyond (transcends) wargaming. I see that I'm not the first person to use the term and have only made page 2 on Google. Thinking about wargaming is the very essence of metawargaming!

    Richard

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  3. It's been a hard year for all of us. I did manage to play one game of Snowball Alley, a somewhat whimsical game of defending Santa's presents from the Rat King. If you'd like a copy, let me know! I fight daily against depression so anything I can do to help you, I will.

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    Replies
    1. Nicholas, thanks for your comment. I didn't mean to ring alarm bells. I'm just fed up.

      Perhaps the pandemic will burn itself out in the new year and we can all go back to normal. I know people who, sadly, have died from Covid but I'm also aware of people who suffered collateral damage from the Lockdowns which may yet prove to have done more harm than good. Public opinion appears to be changing.

      Richard

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